Blindered

Negative space as texture and as meaning.


I've been following the discussion of light, dark and negative space over on chaos's page, and decided I wanted to look for interesting ways of using negative space in photographs - which is to say (in an oversimplified way): the area of the photo not in focus and not the main subject.

In sculpture, negative space is fairly straightforward - the empty space in and around the physical sculpture. In photography, it can be a lot more hazy.

Yet in any art, and particularly in photography, the negative space plays an important role, sometimes more important to the overall mood or meaning than the subject itself.

In this shot, for example - the negative space (the blind) provides a nice texture to what would otherwise be a simple shot of a city. It also, with a title that pushes you in the right direction, provides the photograph with its meaning.

Granted, it would have been better if it had been a shot of the homeless or a beggar through the blind, but you take what you can get, and this was all I could come up with for today.

I'll probably be pursuing this train of thought for a few days, or until I run out of interest or ideas. Which might be tomorrow - I don't know.

Anyway, thanks for bearing with me, and please - any observations/suggestions/criticism/discussion are greatly appreciated.